Packaging and supporting sleeve



9, 11949, w. J. sANDERsoN ET AL 2,478,172

PACKAGING AND SUPPORTING SLEEVE Filed sept. 15, 1946 Z5?" E' I3 YIlgmc/VMBO@ W.J'. SANDERSON B J. WESTOVER tented Aug'. 9, 1949 PACKAGINGAND SUPPORTING SLEEVE William J. Sanderson, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada,and Bert J. Westover, Indianapolis, Ind.,

assignors to the United States of America as represented by theSecretary of Agriculture Application September 13, 1946, SerialNo.696,978 6 Claims. (Cl. 20G- 46) (Granted under the act of March 3,1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) This application is madeunder the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928,and the invention herein described and claimed, if patented, may bemanufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States ofAmerica for governmental purposes without the payment to us of anyroyalty thereon.

This invention relates to a device for supporting and packaging articlesof any suitable kind, especially such as instruments, electric motors,generators, invertors, etc., in transit and in stora e.

gThe' object of this invention is to protect the article from jolts andshocks in the following ways: (1) To provide a supporting sleeve orharness which can be fitted snugly within a container or tted loosely toprovide for packing or cushioning material between the sleeve and theside of the container, and for the bottom and top of the container; (2)to provide cushioning for the object by using various gauges of metal tomake the sleeve, the lighter the gauge the more cushioning provided; (3)to distribute the load over a greater area, thus protecting the articleand the container when shock occurs; and (4) to provide a handling orstorage casing when the article is not being shipped or handled in thecontainer.

We attain these objects by the packaging and supporting sleeve shown inthe accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a vertical section showing thearticle, or instrument, supported by the sleeve within an outer shell,or container. Figure 2 is a cross section at line 2-2 on Figure 1.Figure 3 is a vertical view of the sleeve or harness.

The harness is a split sleeve I made of a ilexible material such assheet metal, plastic, or certain species of wood. It comprises a curvedportion t which ts snugly the contour of a container, and portions 3bent away from the wall of the container. The instrument d, or otherdevice to be shipped, is supported by, or fastened to, the portion 3 ofthe sleeve. 'I'his may be accomplished by means of bolts and nuts 5 andt and board l. The instrument 4 is placed within the sleeve I, and holesin its base plate t placed opposite the holes il and I 5 in the sleeveII. Bolts 5, fastened to board l, are then inserted in the holes 9 and I5, and the nuts 6 are fastened in place. The sleeve and instrumentcarried thereby are then ready for inser tion in the outer shell Ill.Discs II and I2, which may be made of wood, resilient, or othermaterials. are placed below and above the sleeve. A cover I3 andfastening ring I4 are used to seal the container.

Holes I5 may be made larger than holes 9, or holes I5 may be made in theform of parallel horizontal slots, to permit free lateral movement oftwo bolts 5 therein.

The split may be placed nearer one wall, and one flange`3 may beextended farther across, being larger than the other ange 3. The largerange 3 may then be provided with parallel rows of holes 9.

The principle by which the sleeve acts may be illustrated by thefollowing discussion: Protection against shock is essentially theproblem of bringing to rest a body that is in motion. To accomplishthis, the kinetic energy of the body must be dissipated in some manner.This action involves the two factors of force tance. If the moving bodyis brought to rest by a large force, the distance required to stop themotion will be relatively short, and if the force is small, the distancemust be relatively long. A common method of bringing a body to rest inpackaging work is to cushion the article with relatively soft, yieldingmaterial. When the container in which the article is cushioned receivesa jolt, the article continues in motion a short distance as thecushioning material yields. The force required to stop the article isexerted by the cushioning material as it compresses. 'Ihe magnitude ofthe force varies with the type of cushioning material which governs theamount of compression or distance through which the article comes torest.

In the use of the packaging supporting sleeve. the article is brought torest not solely by use of common cushioning material, but by the springaction of the sleeve. When the container in which the sleeve assembly isplaced is jolted and `iarred, the article tends to stay in motion, andits inertia distorts and springs the sleeve. As the sleeve flexes backand forth, it absorbs the energy of the moving article and relativelyslowly brings it to rest.

In the drawing, an instrument is shown secured on the at part of themetal sleeve, which may be made of rolled sheet steel. Means other thanbolts may be employed to support the instrument. For example, the sleevemay be crimped to hold the base of the article. Bolts may be ailxed tothe sleeve.

In this illustration, a metal container is used which also acts as amoisture-vapor barrier, preventing entrance of vapor which would corrodeSince the sleeve is metal.

the packaged article.

and disl and not hygroscopic, such as most other cushioning materials,the package would require aminimum of desiccant. In instances where asleeve of this type with either round or square end area is used with awooden container, a flexible moisture-vapor barrier which might berequired .which the tubular container is arcuate in crosssection, asleeve part non-adjacent the split being likewise arcuate and shaped tofollow the contour of the container, the arc of contact beingsufllciently extensive to retain the sleeve against lateraldisplacement.

3. The combination described in claim 1, and cushioning means betweenthe sleeve and the top and bottom walls of the container.

4. In combination, an article, and a device for supporting the articletherewithin, the device comprising a exible sleeve split lengthwise, thesleeve being longer, deeper, and wider than the .4 article, means' i'orfastening the article to the sleeve adjacent to the edges of the split,the article being supported within the sleeve solely by said fasteningmeans and being otherwise free of the inner wall of the sleeve.

5. The combination described in claim 4, and an outer tubular containerfor the sleeve and article, that part of the sleeve adjacent the splitand to which the article is fastened being spaced from the wall of thecontainer, the part non-adjacent the split being shaped to follow thecontour of the container.

6. The combination described in claim 5, in which the tubular containeris arcuate in crosssection, a sleeve part non-adjacent the split beinglikewise arcuate, the arc of contact being sufcient to retain the sleeveagainst displacement lateral to the axis of the tube.

WILLIAM J. SANDERSON. BERT J. WESTOV'ER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,052,914 Williams Sept. 1, 1936OTHER REFERENCES Long Term Storage of Ordnance Material, Aug. 15, 1945,pages 24-25.

